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Amid anxiety, Hispanic worship continues steady growth

Savannah Morning News

Vianney Arrieta, far right, and Edgar Erape, right, dressed in traditional Mexican costume, walked as part of a procession that started at the Port Wentworth soccer fields at Cantyre Street Friday for the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe and ended with a mass at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church.

Savannah Morning News

Mariachi Nuevo Guadalajara band members Rene Jimenez, left, Esteban Rojas, center, and Pablo Cabrera, right, play music during a mass at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church after a procession that started at the Port Wentworth soccer fields at Cantyre Street Friday for the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

To Mexicans, the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe stands for protection, peace and national pride.

So the Rev. John T. Brown wasn't that surprised to see her life-sized image painted on the wall when he stepped inside an abandoned house in Stillmore last September - even though none of the 35 Hispanic workers who had lived there attended his worship services.

Three months after federal agents picked up about 130 illegal immigrants in Stillmore - and more than 500 lost their jobs at the Crider Inc. poultry plant - Brown expected festivities for the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe to continue amid some anxiety.

"I know they're going to be celebrating," said Brown, who oversees ministries in Candler and Emanuel Counties. "But I think many will be looking over their shoulders this year."

Leaders of the Catholic Diocese of Savannah said that fear is shared by Hispanic immigrant communities across south Georgia, most of whom are probably Roman Catholic.

Weekly prayer services in Stillmore had involved about 30 people who met at a public park bench. The meetings stopped after the raid until about three weeks ago. Now about 10 people show up for the weekly service.

Attendance at holy Family parish in nearby Metter was hurt the most, with numbers at the Spanish services dropping in half to about 60. English services hold steady at about 40 people weekly.

However, attendance at Holy Trinity in Swainsboro - just 14 miles from Stillmore - has grown 20 percent, up to around 100 people.

Last month, Bishop J. Kevin Boland issued a second statement of the year underlining the church's commitment to "comprehensive" immigration reform that offers a temporary worker program and laws to protect immigrant families from being split.

"Enforcement-only measures do not realistically address the substantive issues facing our country," according to the statement he wrote with Catholic bishops from Atlanta and the Carolinas. "The drumbeat of dehumanizing rhetoric constantly threatens the peace and well-being of our communities, causing an increase in suffering and fear among some of the most vulnerable ones."

Demand for Spanish-language services continues, especially among youth and young adults.

"That's where the faith is growing, is with all these young people. It's growing leaps and bounds," said Rey Morales, director of Hispanic ministries for the Diocese. "No matter what happens with immigration reform, they'll still be coming."

An increasing number of churches are entirely populated by Hispanics, including Our Lady of Guadalupe in Sandhill, San Jose parish in Twin Lakes and St. Raymond's parish in Alma.

Of 82 parishes and missions in the Diocese, about 44 offer Spanish-language worship.

That healthy rebound isn't guaranteed in 2007. Morales said church officials will keep a close eye on immigration topics in the news to determine whether the steady growth will continue.

"If the law says, 'We're going to look for every opportunity to exclude people,' eventually they'll look for new places to live where they'll be more welcome."

If you go

The feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe is a national holiday in Mexico. It holds religious significance for Roman Catholics who honor Tuesday, Dec. 12, as the day Juan Diego, a 16th-century Native American, said the Virgin Mary appeared to him on a hillside in Guadalupe.

The festival also offers a reason for South Americans, as well as Mexicans, living in the United States a chance to celebrate their common language, music, food and heritage.

Our Lady of Guadalupe festival

11 a.m.-8 p.m. today

Port Wentworth soccer fields at Cantyre Street

Includes folk music, dancing, a grease pole, prizes, food and information from local Hispanic nonprofits.